In Conversation

Award-winning actress and director Blazey Best has spent more than three decades working across theatre, television and film. Her theatre credits include Arcadia and Travesties for the Sydney Theatre Company, The Wild Duck for Belvoir, and The Glass Menagerie for the Ensemble, winning Sydney Theatre Awards for her roles in Ivanov, Medea and Miracle City. She’s appeared in a slew of television favourites, from Water Rats to Heartbreak High and numerous feature films including Ruben Guthrie and Stealth. She’s also turned her hand to directing, including Tell Me on a Sunday for Hayes, and Well Behaved Women for Belvoir.
Blazey speaks about her current role in the heartwarming 84 Charing Cross Road currently playing at the Ensemble, and the fascinating challenge of creating intimacy and a developing relationship expressed only through letters. She looks back on her childhood in regional Victoria, roller skating to disco Beethoven and discovering a love of performance through school musicals and youth choirs. She speaks candidly about the realities of life as a “jobbing actor”, from early television guest roles to the emotional rollercoaster of auditions and reviews, and the importance of building a sense of self beyond the profession. 
Blazey Best stars in 84 Charing Cross Road at the Ensemble Theatre until June 13.

A comedian and actor who has made audiences around the world laugh for 40 years, Suzy Eddie Izzard, known professionally as Eddie Izzard, began her comedy career in famous London venues including the Comedy Store and the Ambassador Theatre, has appeared in plays on the West End and Broadway (including a Tony nomination for her performance in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg), and appeared in many television shows such as The Riches and The Day of the Triffids, and films, including Ocean’s 12 and 13. She’s back in Australia for her latest stand up show – The Remix Tour – and is then presenting her one person version of Hamlet.
Suzy reflects on the challenges of sustaining a visceral, emotionally immediate interpretation of Shakespeare alone on stage, and how her background in stand-up and street performance has equipped her for it. She candidly reflects on key milestones of her career, her early rejections, and how her success in stand-up sidetracked her original ambitions to be an actor. We hear about her Tony nomination, her foray into politics and her journey to coming out as trans. All the stories are told with her trademark wit and humour.
Suzy Eddie Izzard performs Hamlet at the Playhouse of the Sydney Opera House June 9-21, the Brisbane Powerhouse June 24-27, Arts Centre Melbourne Fairfax Studio from June 30 to July 12, the Perth Heath Ledger Theatre July 27-28 and the Canberra Theatre Centre from July 31 to August 2. She also performs Hamlet in Auckland and Wellington.

An award-winning lyricist and writer for film, TV, and musical theatre, Lynn Ahrens has collaborated with composer Stephen Flaherty on a slew of popular musicals, including Anastasia for both film and stage, Ragtime, Once on this Island, Seussical, A Man of No Importance, and many others. She’s been nominated for two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes and won the Tony for Best Original Score for Ragtime. 
In this wide-ranging conversation, Lynn reflects on the remarkable journey that took her from a secretary with a guitar to one of musical theatre’s most celebrated lyricists. She speaks candidly about the role of luck alongside persistence, from her breakthrough writing for Schoolhouse Rock! to the formative partnership with Stephen Flaherty that began with a chance call across a New York street. Along the way, she shares insights into craft, from the challenge of writing opening numbers to the necessity of constant rewriting, as well as formative encounters with legends like Stephen Sondheim, Comden and Green, and Sheldon Harnick. 
The conversation also explores the evolution of Anastasia from animated film to stage musical, shaped by a desire to deepen its emotional and historical resonance, and the ongoing life of works like Ragtime, whose themes continue to echo powerfully in today’s world. Lynn speaks warmly about mentoring the next generation of writers, the realities of collaboration, and the emotional highs and lows of developing new work.
Anastasia, music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, is playing at the Sydney Lyric Theatre, currently booking until July 18, before heading to Adelaide and then Brisbane.

One of Australia’s pre-eminent actresses, Pamela Rabe has graced our stages and screens for over four decades. Her list of credits is vast, having appeared in seminal plays, from Private Lives and The Glass Menagerie, to God of Carnage and August: Osage County. She’s also no stranger to the screen, most notably for her portrayal of Joan Fergusson in Wentworth. She’s received countless nominations for Green Room, Helpmann, and AACTA awards, scoring wins for many including her roles in The Well, The Wizard of Oz, and the aforementioned Wentworth. 
Pamela traces her remarkable journey from a childhood in Canada to a distinguished career in Australia across stage and screen. She reflects on her early love of radio and storytelling, the formative experiences that led her into acting, and the unexpected path that brought her to Australia, where appearing different became an asset rather than a limitation. She gives thoughtful reflections on the nature of performance, as well as her experience stepping into the iconic role of Joan Ferguson in Wentworth. 
In the 2023 Queen’s Birthday Honours, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the performing arts as a performer and director. 
Pamela Rabe stars in a gripping new theatrical adaptation of Olga Tokarczuk’s cult novel Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead for Belvoir Street Theatre until May 10, followed by the leading role of Sister Aloysius in John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt for the Sydney Theatre Company from June 30.

A conductor with an impressive career that now spans 45 years, Sir Donald Runnicles has had enduring relationships in chief artistic leadership positions at many organisations around the world – Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Grand Teton Music Festival amongst many others, with his newest position as Chief Conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic. He’s quite the Wagnerian and is celebrated for his interpretations of Romantic and post-Romantic symphonic and opera repertoire.
In this conversation, Donald traces his path from a musical upbringing in Edinburgh immersed in church music and choral singing to an international career defined by long-standing artistic relationships and a deep affinity for German repertoire, particularly Wagner. He reflects on the formative experience of learning his craft in the opera houses of Germany, the importance of communication as a conductor through gesture rather than words, and how his understanding of music continues to evolve over time. He also gives insights into his work and relationship with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as its Chief Guest Conductor.
Sir Donald Runnicles conducts the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony and Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto no 1 from 15-18 April.